Entitled to bonus on maternity leave?

[OneForTheRoadThen]

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice.

I've just returned from maternity leave (9 months and then 3 months annual leave so a year in total). During this leave my company decided to start a bonus scheme and offered £1k to all the sales team if we made our years target, this was achieved and everyone but me received £1k. I only heard of this by chance and wondered if I was entitled to anything.

I contributed sales to 3 months of the years qualifying period before I went on leave. Should I ask for a quarter of the bonus?

Thanks

My company still gives you your bonus while on maternity leave... however the bonus scheme is mentioned in our contract so counts as a 'benefit' which is protected. Not sure what will be the case for you if it's a new thing....id definitely ask!

If you hit a quarter of your target within those three months then you ought to get a quarter of the bonus.

Similar to part timers. Presumably someone who works half the hours has half the target and gets half the bonus.

Thanks @ScarletBegonia1234 it's a new scheme and isn't in our contracts unfortunately!

@NapQueen it was a team target rather than individual ones. I just contributed sales for 3 months before I went on leave. I think I will ask.

We don't get a bonus whilst on maternity leave. Plus we have to work for 6 months of the qualifying period (calendar year in our case) to get anything. So e.g. if you join in July, you get nothing for that calendar year.

They can't withhold bonus because of maternity leave. If a bonus is part of your normal remuneration you should get it in proportion to the amount of time in the bonus year you were in work, plus the two weeks compulsory maternity leave.

If there is a genuinely completely discretionary bonus, such as your company decides to give everyone an extra weeks pay at Christmas or something, you should get it in full even if you are on maternity leave at the time.

Thank you @flowery. It's not part of our normal remuneration, it's a brand new scheme and isn't in our contracts (we're a very small company).

Your second point was interesting as we do usually get a discretionary bonus of a weeks extra leave over Christmas each year. I asked for it to be added on to my leave at the end of maternity leave but was told I didn't qualify.

You should have had that definitely.

A bonus scheme related to sales and targets isn't as discretionary even if it's not technically in your contract, so I think they'd have a reasonable argument to give you that pro rata rather than at the same level. But the annual leave you should have had. They're treating you less favourably than everyone else because you are on maternity leave and that's unlawful.

Thank you @flowery. I'm not sure what to do about that really!

@flowery I asked our director today if I qualified for a pro rata bonus and he said no. His reason was that they only decided on this discretionary scheme after the sales reforecast in November whereas I went on maternity leave earlier in the year. Therefore it was only given to people who could directly influence sales I.e not me.

Does that sound fair? I'm gutted.

It depends. Was the bonus for achievement of the total year target, or was it for achievement of a smaller target after the scheme was introduced?

So if the annual target was, say £500,000, and in November they decided to add a bonus for achievement of that £500,000 for the whole year, you have contributed, because without the (say)£20,000 you contributed to the annual target before you went on leave, they would not have achieved as much for the year.

But if in November a target of £50,000 was set for the remaining however-long-it-was, then you would not have contributed to achievement of that particular target, no.

Thank you for your help @flowery. It doesn't look like I am entitled to anything in that case.